Wire pulling lubricants, or so-called "soaps", are used in the electrical industry for insulated wires pulled through a conduit by means of a drag wire, iron snake, rope or steel cable which is connected to a pulling winch, either manual or power driven. In most cases, the iron snake, drag wire or rope is pulled by hand, using only the power of an individual.
Conduit systems vary in sizes from 1/2 inch to and through 5 inches, with the conduits running anywhere from, for instance, 10 feet to 300 feet and in some cases up to 500 feet. The wire or cable that is used is pulled through these conduits either singularly or plurally and varies in size from 14 gauge to 750 gauge, with 14 gauge being the smallest normally utilized and with 750 gauge being the largest normally utilized. The wires are pulled through these conduit systems or pipes such that the inserted wire runs in different combinations of numbers and sizes from one or two conductors up to 400 conductors in typical usage.
In the past, the passage of the wire through the conduit has been facilitated through the utilization of a lubricant or soap which is available, in one embodiment, as Ideal Yellow 77 Wire Pulling Lubricant, catalogue number 31-351, from Ideal Industries, Inc. of Sycamore, Illinois. The practice which has long been the case is to either dip the wire into a pail of lubricant or to grab some lubricant with one hand and apply the lubricant with both hands to the cables to be routed, while at the same time pushing the cables through the conduit at the open end of the conduit. It should be noted that electrical wires are made of either copper or aluminum, and that lubricant usually never touches the wire. Rather, the lubricant is utilized over the insulation for the wire, there being many types of insultations, all of which are listed in the National Electrical Code Book. The lubricants are used mainly to reduce friction caused by insulated wire being pulled through a conduit system. Because of the friction exerted by the wire insulation during wire pulls, there a concomitant strain on the insulation. Using the lubricants which produce less strain means that there is less chance of an insulation breakdown after the wire is pulled and the electrical current is introduced. If there is a breakdown caused by excessive strain, it will be appreciated that there is a chance of a blowout in the cable's insulation. Thus, lubricating the wire prior to insertion not only reduces friction, it also reduces strain and therefore saves, to a certain extent, the insulation from breakage.
A third factor in utilizing lubricant is the labor saving factor. Because there is less friction when the soap is used, the wire moves at a faster rate with relative ease to avoid snags and to provide for easy passage through bends in the conduit. Of course, there being less friction, there is less drag which results in less strain on pulling equipment which saves on wear and tear of the equipment. By utilization of a lubricant, the number of bends that can be accommodated in a conduit run are increased so that the restriction on the number of conduit bends is lessened through the utilization of lubrication. Finally, when multiple wires are pulled through a conduit, there is less space for the wires to be pulled through. If a lubricant is not used, it makes future pulls through the virtually impossible conduit even if a successful multiple wire pull is initially provided.
Thus, the lubricant cuts down on friction on the insulation, cuts down on the strain of insulation, saves time and labor, saves wear and tear on equipment, eases the restriction caused by the number of bends in the conduit run and eases the difficulty of pulls involving multiple cables.
The aforementioned manual techniques of applying lubricants have been in use for at least 80 years and the usual steps involved are as follows: The mechanic or electrician inserts a bare hand into the lubricant bucket which is located some distance away from the mechanic. The mechanic applies the lubricant or soap on the wire. Soaps usually do not cling together or to the wires so there is invariably a mess of material which drips from the wire resulting in a large cleanup procedure after the wire pulling procedure. In order for a wire pull to be successful, there must be at least two men, one to pull and the other to soap and feed. There is also a problem since the mechanic feeding has soap all over his hands which means that he loses his grip and leverage to be able to both soap and push the wire up through the conduit. This can make a very easy pull difficult because the mechanic feeding the wire has no critical ability to put frictional contact to the outside jacket of the wire; and, therefore he is unable to push the wire from his end.
As mentioned above, whenever a soap or lubricant is used, there is usually a cleanup factor which becomes a labor factor. This is important because it deters some mechanics or electricians from utilizing the lubricant. However, not using the lubricant risks future problems with the wire running or pulling.